Seashore
by Kairaita
Summary: BBS Spoilers, TerraxAqua centric, Terra/Aqua/Ven friendship. Fifty sentences about Terra and Aqua, what had been, what has been, and what could have been.


_~Seashore~_

_Everything that used to be, everything that was, and everything that could have been._

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_~01~_ Walking

The way she moves, the way she attacks, the way that she smashes her Keyblade into his head (never enough to hurt that much), even the way that Aqua simply walks makes Terra think-

_~02~_ Waltz

…That they're in a never-ending waltz, and she's usually the one leading, unfortunately.

_~03~_ Wishes

He knows that you can't just wish for wishes and dreams to come true, but every time he sees her, he realizes that his wish has already been granted.

_~04~_ Wonder

She has the weight of the worlds on her shoulders now, so the least he can do now is not wonder how she doesn't just break under the pressure.

_~05~_ Worry

"You're going to give yourself gray hair early if you keep worrying like that," Terra tells her, before sneezing violently and retreating under Aqua's harsh stare, "I don't know what you're talking about, cliff-diving's perfectly safe."

_~06~_ Whimsy

There's nothing whimsical about Terra; every step he takes, every attack he makes, it's all perfectly calculated in a neat package and topped with a ribbon, so much that she just wants to untie the knot and show him what to do when the angles don't add up to exactly one-eighty or a perfect three-sixty.

_~07~_ Waste/Wasteland

The Keyblade Graveyard is an empty, empty, _empty_ wasteland of long-forgotten blades, and the only thing she can hope for is that _their_ Keyblades don't join the past.

_~08~_ Whiskey and Rum

They're both over the age limit, but grimace at the glass full of whiskey at the same time before gulping it down - a moment later, they're both gagging at the horrible taste and how anyone would ever drink such a horrible thing.

_~09~_ War

Slowly, deliberately, Terra wiped the splattered tomato from his face, a stoic and blank look on his face until he smiled in a way that sent shivers down Aqua's spine; "This. Is. War."

_~10~_ Weddings

"When you and Terra grow up," Ven's twelve-year-old self speaks seriously, staring at Aqua with sky bright eyes and looking so innocent until he drops the bombshell, "Are you going to have a wedding?"

_~11~_ Birthday

A few days after she leaves Radiant Garden, Aqua remembers it was Terra's birthday then ("So, you've been spying on me…"); but the worst part was that he didn't seem to remember either.

_~12~_ Blessing

He's still not sure whether having Aqua around as a fellow apprentice was a blessing or a curse, but there isn't a reason that it can't be both.

_~13~_ Bias

"That's so feminine of you, making a charm like that-" "You're just biased because you couldn't make one half as good."

_~14~_ Burning

In retrospect, Terra feels that cliff-diving was probably not the best thing to do in that weather; it shows when Aqua presses a hand to his burning forehead and declares that he's the biggest idiot ever, before shoving him onto a bed (_when did that get there?)_ and casting a Blizzard spell despite his protests, because all it seems to do is make the burning intensify and he's fairly sure she's the reason why.

_~15~_ Breathing

In the last moment before everything goes _white no black no gray no nothing_, the one thing that he wished for was to hear the sound of Aqua's breathing, just to make sure she was still there.

_~16~_ Breaking

She never broke; instead, she shattered.

_~17~_ Belief

Aqua was a believer of many things, such as somehow, someway, somewhere, someday; but there was one thing she didn't believe in, instead she _knew_, that they would always be connected.

_~18~_ Balloon

Once, Aqua had tied a balloon to the back of his shirt, hanging from the straps like some sort of floating tail - when he found it, Terra responded by popping said balloon in front of Aqua's face while she was asleep, but the end result wasn't pretty.

_~19~_ Balcony

The highest balcony in the Land of Departure was not a typical romantic meeting place for the two of them; no, it was a place to see who could jump farthest from the handrail to the ground.

_~20~_ Bane

They would do anything for each other, even if it was the bane of their existence.

_~21_~ Quiet

It was quiet moments like these that he almost lived for, when it was just them and everything was perfect and peaceful, almost as if something disturbed that, everything would break.

_~22~_ Quirks

Small quirks such as the way she sees Sora fold his arms behind his head, the way Riku has that intense, serious stare full of purpose, and the way Kairi gives her a keepsake (almost a charm, really) makes Aqua wonder how their life is mirrored in other worlds.

_~23_~ Question

It's only after Ven leaves with his joking reply of "Yes mom, yes dad." that they glance at each other awkwardly, the silent question hanging in the air between them.

_~24~_ Quarrel

They've had small quarrels, arguments, and even all-out shouting matches, but none of them ever really meant anything until the day Aqua passes the Master Qualification Exam and he's left behind in the dust.

_~25~_ Quitting

More than once, Aqua's simply thought of quitting entirely, twirling Eraqus' Keyblade until it points directly at her heart, but she realizes that it would be the easy way out and it would never get her or Terra anywhere.

_~26~_ Jump

It was pure instinct that he held out his arms, expecting Aqua to jump down before she simply leaped down from the small cliff herself, landing lightly next to him and giving a quizzical glance; "What are you doing?"

_~27~_ Jester

"So who's the real jester here?" Ven asks cheekily one day after a particularly horrible joke, and they don't even need to look at each other before replying, like parents scolding a small child: "You."

_~28~_ Jousting

Circling each other carefully on their Keyblade Riders, it could be a twisted version of a jousting match, this time with a knight and a princess competing for that afternoon break and no chores for the night.

_~29~_ Jewel

When he asks her what that 'shiny rock' is doing around her neck, because that's what it honestly looks like and he's never seen Aqua wear anything like it (why would she ever?), she smacks him in the face and tells him it's jewelry while blushing profusely.

_~30~_ Just

Their first and last kiss is not like a perfect fairytale; it's rushed, clumsy, and completely unromantic, but it's just good enough for the two of them.

_~31~_ Smirk

She's seen Terra smirk before, and in that one small smirk there's assurance, determination, and above all, _confidence_; and try as she might, she just can't replicate that smirk with the same degree of smugness, as if her face wasn't made for such an expression.

_~32~_ Sorrow

When it's just her and _not_ Terra and the tiny encircled battlefield between them, it's all she can do to hold back the tears and raise her Keyblade, because it's time to show the worlds what a Keyblade Master really is, even if her heart is breaking into fragments of sorrow and the only thing she wonders is who will be left to pick up the pieces.

_~33~_ Stupidity

"It's not so much that the laws of physics are broken, as much as it's actually really impractical-" she starts to explain, but Terra quickly replies with, "It's still stupid, and you know it; I mean, why would anyone want to use a Keyblade made of ice cream, except maybe Ven?"

_~34~_ Serenade

Once upon a time, Terra tried to serenade Aqua (dared by Ven, thank you very much) by reading some sort of stupid play by the melodramatic name of LOVELESS outside her door, but they both ended up laughing themselves into hysterics.

_~35~_ Sarcasm

"No, of course I didn't go through the trouble of learning a new spell just to play a prank on you; you know how much I suck at magic." Terra grins nevertheless, sarcasm dripping from every word.

_~36~_ Sordid

He concentrates harder than ever at this moment, because just one sordid thought, and even the wishes and dreams of his best friends wouldn't be able to drag him back from the darkness.

_~37~_ Soliloquy

"You and me, after everything that's happened between us, where are we now?" she whispers - a soliloquy just to herself, but the waves seem to echo with a faint reply.

_~38~_ Sojourn

She tries to reassure herself by imagining that they're all simply on a sojourn in a new (and extremely dark and cold) world and exploring separately, but quickly gives up that line of thought when she turns around to talk to someone who doesn't exist for the thirteenth time.

_~39~_ Share

It's pouring and they're both drenched in the endless deluge of water before they find a small outcropping of rock that's honestly only big enough for one person, but Aqua pulls him in anyway and they share the uncomfortably tiny space, acutely aware of each other's presence.

_~40~_ Solitary

When he locks himself in solitary confinement and throws away the key, Aqua knows she'll have to pick the keyhole and unscrew every bolt from the box before dragging Terra out to slap some sense into him, and she wouldn't mind doing it a thousand times over.

_~41~_ Nowhere

The middle of nowhere is a lonely place, but when she sees Terra and Ven's Keyblades shooting through the air like falling stars, it reminds her that even the middle of nowhere is always somewhere.

_~42~_ Neutral

They stand at opposite ends of the spectrum, day and night, light and dark, shadow and sunlight, sun and moon, dawn and twilight; there is no neutral ground between them and maybe that's the only reason it works.

_~43~_ Nuance

It's just a slight nuance in the back of his mind at first whenever he sees Aqua, but later he thinks that somewhere in the universe, someone is laughing at him.

_~44~_ Near

Ten years, and neither of them ever noticed how near they were to each other.

_~45~_ Natural

In the Dark Meridian, there's nothing to do but practice, but Aqua stumbles through the steps because it's too light without the weight of Terra's Keyblade to push against, and it doesn't feel natural at all.

_~46_~ Horizon

Aqua likes staring at the horizon, but Terra wishes she would stare at the seashore instead (he doesn't need to know that secretly, she thinks the seashore is more real).

_~47_~ Valiant

She doesn't think of Terra as a valiant hero, and he definitely doesn't think of Aqua as a damsel in distress, because they're just each other and that's all they'll ever need and that's all they ever want.

_~48_~ Virtuous

If someone ever wanted to look up the word "virtuous" in the dictionary, they would find a picture of Aqua right underneath the word; Terra knows because he's the one who put it there.

_~49_~ Victory

"I win," she says simply, a hand pressing down on his chest and effectively keeping him pinned better than any handcuffs could; it would have looked like a very awkward victory if it weren't for the Keyblade pointed at his neck.

_~50_~ Defeat

They don't get a happy ending, only the bitter taste of truth and defeat.


End file.
